FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Thursday, June 9, 2016

CONTACT: Nina Smith, nina.smith@younginvincibles.org, 301-717-9006

[WASHINGTON]—Following today’s Appropriations Committee markup of the Senate Fiscal Year 2017 Labor-H Appropriations bill, Rory O’Sullivan, deputy director of Young Invincibles, issued the following statement:

“We are pleased the Committee came together in a bipartisan fashion to restore Year-Round Pell for one million students, helping them complete college faster and with less debt. Unfortunately, that reform advances alongside cuts that threaten the financial future of the Pell Grant program and the approximately 8 million low- and moderate-income students it serves.

We’ve seen the purchasing power of Pell erode over the past several decades, and now our most effective economic mobility tool covers less than a third of the cost of a typical four-year public college. There are a host of reforms available to strengthen Pell, including a significant increase in the maximum Pell grant, that today’s cuts would make harder to pursue.

It is deeply concerning to see funding taken out of a program designed to expand access to higher education. While the impact  may not be felt today, this decision undermines our country’s commitment to hard-working students. We urge Congressional leaders to restore and protect Pell funding in the months to come.”  

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